There are no related patent applications.
The subject invention is not the result of or in any way related to federally sponsored research or development.
1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to disposable cups and containers and, more specifically, a method for the manufacture of a combination cup insulator/stabilizer.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Disposable cups and containers are used throughout the fast food industry as well as in specialty foods, carry out locations, offices, work sites, recreational products, the transportation industry and in many other circumstances and environs. Disposable cups and containers are mostly made of foam, paper or plastic.
Cup and container designs have not changed much from their inception. Disposal cups generally exhibit a xe2x80x9cfrustoconicalxe2x80x9d configuration consisting of a closed circular base, a conical wall that extends upward and tapers outward from the outer perimeter of the base, and an open, circular mouth or rim. Because the frustoconical configured cups are wider at the top than at the bottom, they become top-heavy and unstable when filled.
Cup instability is of considerable concern in a shifting environment such as on trains, planes and cars, where turbulence or bumps are likely to cause conically shaped cups to tip and the contents to spill out. Instability is also of greater concern when serving hot liquids, and particularly, when serving very hot liquids in frustoconically shaped disposable cups in a shifting or bumpy environment.
In order to compensate for this instability and consequent risk, cups have been designed with wide bottoms and narrow tops. While these designs make the filled container bottom heavy, and stable, such products have very limited commercial feasibility, and are not practicable in the context of disposable cups and containers for the simple reason that they cannot be efficiently stacked for packing, shipping and storage.
It is a primary object of the present invention to provide a means for stabilizing disposable cups and containers demonstrating the ubiquitous frustoconical shape such that they can continue to be stacked for easy and inexpensive packing, shipping and storage.
Known innovations used to stabilize the typical disposable cups include cup bases, coasters and cup assemblies that interact with and shore up the bottom portion of the cups. Prior art cup stabilizers are manufactured separately from the cup, often of durable materials intended for reuse. Differently sized and configured cups require differently sized and configured cup stabilizers. Know cup stabilizers also require manufacturing molds, stamps, dies and tools that are different from the molds, stamps, dies and tools used to manufacture the disposable cups they serve to stabilize. Cup stabilizers fabricated of durable materials for reuse are considerably more expensive to manufacture than the disposable cups they stabilize, rendering them uneconomic for most fast food, carry out and transportation industry uses.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a cup stabilizer that can be inexpensively fabricated from disposable material, that does not need to be separately sized and configured for each different size and configuration of cup, and that does not require manufacturing facilities separate from the facilities used to manufacture the cups themselves or if additional facilities are required, those additional facilities are limited in their nature and scope.
Some of the materials used to make disposable cups and containers, like foam, are good insulators. Those made of plastic and paper do not insulate well, making them unsuitable for holding very hot and very cold liquids. Even foam cups, if thin-walled, may be unsuitable and/or uncomfortable when holding very hot liquids.
Cup liners and container holders which surround the outside wall of disposable cups to better insulate paper and plastic cups, and thin-walled foam cups, are well known and commercially available. Like the cup stabilizers discussed above, prior art cup liners and container holders are manufactured separately from the cup or container they are designed to insulate and hence require separate manufacturing facilities. Some are constructed of durable materials for reuse, and most must be sized and configured to fit the specific size and configuration of the cup or container they are intended to insulate.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a cup liner/insulator that does not require manufacturing facilities separate from the facilities used to manufacture the cup to be insulated, or any additional facilities that may be required are limited, that can be inexpensively fabricated from disposable material, and that does not need to be separately sized and configured for different sizes and configurations of cups.
These and other objects are accomplished in the present invention, a combination cup insulator/stabilizer and method of making the same. According to the innovative method of the invention, a first disposable cup demonstrating typical frustoconical configuration with a closed circular base, a conical wall that extends upward and tapers outwardly from the outer perimeter of the base, and an open, circular mouth, is divided, by cutting horizontally midway between the cup base and cup rim, along a plane parallel to the cup base. The severed bottom cup portion is discarded and the severed top cup portion can be used either or both as a cup liner/insulator and a cup stabilizer.
When used as a cup liner/insulator, the top cup portion is slid from below over the outside wall of a second disposable cup identical in size and shape to the first disposable cup. When used as a cup stabilizer, the top cup portion is inverted and set on a surface. A second disposable cup identical in size and shape to the first disposable cup is received into the inverted top cup portion of the first cup until the bottom of the second cup rests on the same surface.
According to an alternative embodiment of the invention, the manufacturing facilities used to make a disposable cup of frustoconical configuration are modified in order to make the top half only of a cup identical in size and shape to the cup to be insulated and/or stabilized. Thereafter the top cup portion is used either as a cup liner/insulator or as a cup stabilizer, in the same manner as the top cup portion made by slicing through the middle of a fully formed cup. This alternative method requires some additional manufacturing facilities but eliminates the step of having to discard the bottom cup portion with the consequent waste or recycling of materials.
The combination insulator/stabilizers can be decorated by applying a design to the outside cup portions. The ornamentation can serve promotional or aesthetic purposes, or both. The design applied to the outside of the combination insulator/stabilizer can coordinate with the design applied to the cups the insulator/stabilizer will line and/or stabilize, and it can be reversible so as to be pleasing upright, when functioning as a cup liner, or inverted, when functioning as a cup stabilizer.
Because the combination cup insulator/stabilizer is made from a cup identical to the one it serves to insulate and stabilize, there is no need to specifically size and configure the insulator/stabilizer to differently sized and configured cups. Rather, so long as the combination insulator/stabilizer is made from the cup it lines and stabilizes, and the insulator/stabilizer will always be sized correctly.
Also, because the combination cup insulator/cup stabilizer is made from the cup that it serves to insulate and to stabilize, there is no need for separate or different manufacturing molds, stamps, dies, tools or facilities. The fabrication facilities used to produce the disposable cups and containers are the same facilities used to make the combination insulator/stabilizer. The combination insulator/stabilizer requires only the additional steps of dividing the bottom cup portion from the top cup portion by slicing, and discarding the bottom cup portion. In the case of the alternative method described above, the machinery and manufacturing facilities used to make given disposable cups are modified to make the top cup portion only. These steps require very little in the way of additional or modified machinery or tools, and results in little additional manufacturing time and expense.
Finally, because the combination insulator/stabilizer is made from the same, inexpensive material as the disposable cups they are used in conjunction with, the combination insulator/stabilizer is inexpensive to produce rendering them economic and commercially suitable for all the many uses disposable cups and containers are presently put to.
Due to the fact that the top cup portions of the first disposal cups retain their frustoconical configuration, the combination insulator/stabilizers of the present invention can be stacked, or nested, one within the other, for easy and economical packing, shipping and storage. Also because the combination insulator/stabilizers retain the conical shape of the containers from which they are made, the nested combination insulators/stabilizers can be inserted into cup dispensers for easy dispensation.